12: I am a money-grubber

"Room 2201 is for ghosts, not for you."

"If you come here to cause trouble again, to provoke me, be careful or I might get sick and start cutting people."

Jiang Fei made a gesture of raising her cleaver.

Blood still stained the cleaver, and Xiao Guan and the others retreated in fear.

For a moment, no one dared to step forward.

Room 2202 was not to be trifled with, and a man started eyeing the room next door:

"How about we go ask 2203..."

Whoosh—!

A dart pierced through the crowd and embedded itself in the man's earlobe.

"Ah ah ah!!!"

Lu Yu, who had come out at some unknown time, leaned against the wall, still toying with a dart in his hand: "Miss Jiang and I are fellow patients from the same Hospital."

"Be quiet, don't make me have an episode."

The man clamped his hand over his mouth, not daring to utter another sound.

Everyone was thoroughly scared and ran downstairs in a panic.

Damn it! The 22nd floor must be a madhouse!

Xiao Guan still wanted to say something, but seeing Jiang Fei raising her knife and walking towards him, he had no choice but to flee.

The corridor returned to silence.

Lu Yu called out to Jiang Fei, who was about to leave: "Cooperate?"

"This heavy rain has turned into a flood, and we need enough supplies to get through this period."

"I have a rubber boat and can go out to find supplies, but the world isn't safe right now, so I need a teammate to be my backup."

"Whoever finds the supplies gets to keep them; no need to split them evenly."

The neighbor was skilled and dared to kill, making her a suitable temporary teammate for him.

Jiang Fei agreed: "Then let's do it tonight."

It's probably chaotic outside by now; maybe she could pick up a lot of gold.

Suddenly, Lu Yu raised his hand.

A dart whizzed and pierced the glass on the staircase door.

Xiao Chuxia, standing behind the door, instantly went weak in the knees and collapsed to the ground: "I-I-I wasn't with those people just now! Miss can vouch for me!"

Jiang Fei went over and helped Xiao Chuxia up, explaining to Lu Yu: "She's a resident of the 21st floor, Xiao Chuxia."

"Sorry, I scared you just now. I'm Lu Yu, a resident of 2203."

Lu Yu wore a faint smile, but the deep gloom in his eyes was colder than the dead of night.

Xiao Chuxia was a little afraid of Lu Yu and hid beside Jiang Fei: "It's okay, it's okay, I was in the wrong first, eavesdropping on your conversation."

Jiang Fei: "How did you get up here?"

"I heard someone screaming at home and thought you were in danger, so I wanted to help, but those people blocked me at the very back."

"Only after they ran off did I manage to squeeze through."

Xiao Chuxia mustered her courage: "When you go out to find supplies, can you take me with you?"

"I'm a medical student; I can do simple bandaging, and I also have a gold bracelet!"

She remembered that Miss loved gold!

It must be said, Xiao Chuxia had made the right gamble.

Jiang Fei looked at Lu Yu: "I'll protect her; she won't cause you any trouble."

Even a fly's leg is still meat!

Lu Yu did not object: "Then we'll meet at the 21st floor at 11 PM sharp."

"I'll go get the bracelet now!"

Xiao Chuxia quickly returned, holding a box.

Besides the bracelet, there were also some small gold ornaments, weighing about 300 grams.

"Miss, these are all for you."

Jiang Fei's eyes lit up, and she even thought Xiao Chuxia was sparkling: "Thank you."

Lu Yu suddenly recalled that in Zean County, Jiang Fei had also saved him because of gold bars, and he asked curiously: "Do you really like gold?"

Didn't Su Liuyuan say that the girl only liked diamonds and beautiful jewelry?

Jiang Fei said seriously: "I'm a money grubber."

Lu Yu indicated that he hadn't noticed.

Meanwhile, Xiao Chuxia was a little embarrassed: "Brother Lu, I don't have any gold left; can I give you a diamond necklace?"

"No need, as long as you don't hold us back, that's enough."

He had plenty of those useless stones.

—

11 PM.

Jiang Fei, Lu Yu, and Xiao Chuxia met up and headed downstairs.

They didn't encounter the people from earlier in the day; they were probably given to some unlucky soul by Xiao Guan.

The water level had already reached halfway up the 4th floor.

Fortunately, the rain had lessened.

The residents of the 4th floor had all fled, leaving their doors wide open.

Jiang Fei and the other two stopped on the stairs.

Under the cover of her backpack, Jiang Fei retrieved three sets of thickened hooded raincoats from the Supermarket warehouse and distributed them to Lu Yu and Xiao Chuxia:

"It's hard to buy medicine for colds now, so try not to get caught in the rain."

"Okay." Lu Yu was the first to put on his raincoat and then inflated the rubber boat on the stairs.

After Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia put on their raincoats and came up, Lu Yu paddled out through a broken French window of a resident's home.

Due to the power outage, the surroundings were pitch black, and they could barely see with the waterproof flashlight Lu Yu had hung on the rubber boat.

The light rain pattered on the water's surface, creating ripple after ripple, pushing floating leaves and the bloated carcasses of animals.

Xiao Chuxia bit her lip tightly, suppressing the fear in her heart.

It wasn't until a corpse, whose neck and head were nearly severed, slowly floated by that Xiao Chuxia was so scared she almost screamed.

She tried to remain calm, grabbed Jiang Fei's arm, and whispered:

"Miss, I think I saw the person who was spreading rumors in the group. How did he die..."

Jiang Fei turned her head to look.

Zhou Lang's body floated on the water, his head bobbing back and forth.

She didn't seem to have severed the dog's neck bone at the time.

"It's dark; you've mistaken him for someone else."

Xiao Chuxia, in her innocence, believed Jiang Fei's nonsense and, still scared, didn't let go of her arm.

Lu Yu, sitting at the very front, glanced at the corpse, a slight curve to his lips, but he didn't expose Jiang Fei's lie.

An hour later.

Lu Yu docked the rubber boat at the largest department store in Lincheng.

The department store, once brightly lit every night, was now shrouded in darkness.

Everything below the fifth floor was submerged.

Most of the windows were shattered, large areas of the exterior wall had peeled off, and overturned cars and trees, blown in by the typhoon, were faintly visible.

Lu Yu chose a secluded spot, secured the rubber boat, and entered the department store through a window.

Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia followed closely behind.

Not many people were out looking for supplies yet, and the department store was eerily quiet.

"We'll split up. We must return here to regroup before dawn."

With that, Lu Yu took out two flashlights, gave them to Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia, and then left first.

Xiao Chuxia looked at Jiang Fei expectantly: "Miss, let's go together."

"No." Jiang Fei's answer was very decisive:

"If you're scared, just search on this floor. If you're missing anything important, I can help you bring it back."

She was looking for gold, and it wasn't suitable to bring Xiao Chuxia along.

Seeing Jiang Fei refuse, Xiao Chuxia didn't insist: "I want sanitary napkins. My stash at home is almost used up, and I'm afraid if the heavy rain doesn't stop, there'll be nowhere to buy them."

"If there's brown sugar, that would be even better. I love brown sugar glutinous rice balls the most; they're sweet and chewy."

Xiao Chuxia, who had been holding back all the way, was just about to start her talkative mode when Jiang Fei slipped away.

Xiao Chuxia was left standing there, holding a flashlight in one hand and a short knife in the other, looking forlorn.

Miss, please come back quickly!

She was scared!

—

Jiang Fei did not leave the 5th floor but instead retrieved some supplies from the Supermarket warehouse.

She walked a few steps, then dropped an item, ensuring Xiao Chuxia could pick it up.

She didn't like owing favors.

It was just to repay Xiao Chuxia for that bag of supplies from the Four Seasons Fresh Market.

When she had dropped enough, Jiang Fei put on her diving gear, jumped into the water, and headed straight for the various jewelry stores on the first floor.

There were too many obstacles in the water, so Jiang Fei dared not swim fast.

If only she could collect items with just her mind.

Unfortunately, she had to physically touch an object for it to be stored in the Supermarket warehouse.

Finding a jewelry store, Jiang Fei deftly avoided obstacles, swam inside, and collected everything she saw at the counter.

No matter what you are, come into my possession!

"Ding—Detected gold: 1658 grams."

"Ding—Detected gold: 1111 grams."

"Ding—Detected gold: 265 grams."

The system's notifications rang out one after another, and Jiang Fei's eyes curved in a smile.

This trip was worth it!

Only when her oxygen tank was almost depleted did Jiang Fei reluctantly come ashore.

"Ding—Current unlock progress for the third area: 98%"

Just a little bit more.

After putting the diving gear back into the Supermarket warehouse, Jiang Fei checked the remaining oxygen tanks; there were two left, as she hadn't bought too many online at the time.

Jiang Fei didn't plan to go back into the water but instead took out a rubber boat and went to the Wanfu Building near the mall.

That place specialized in selling gold.

What was in the water she wanted, and what was in the building she definitely wouldn't let go of.

She refused to believe she couldn't unlock an area tonight!

The Wanfu Building had a total of eight floors, but now only two were above water; the lower floors were all submerged.

A faint flicker of light emanated from a window on the seventh floor.

Someone was there?

Jiang Fei circled to the back of the Wanfu Building, came ashore, secured her rubber boat, pulled out her short knife, and crept inside.

All the counters she saw had been smashed, clearly taken by the first group of people.

Hearing intermittent voices from the staff lounge, Jiang Fei cautiously approached.

The voices gradually became clearer—

"When will this flood end? I dream of leaving this godforsaken place now."

"When the flood ends and order is restored, the police will start arresting us. Do you want to go back to prison and live your old life? Continue to be a murderer?"

"Alright, let's just figure out how to split these things first."

Jiang Fei understood.

These were three escaped convicts.

The door to the lounge had been removed, allowing Jiang Fei, hidden in the shadows, to clearly see what was inside.

Three men sat around a bonfire—one tall, one short, and one thin—with several black luggage bags piled beside them, presumably filled with gold.

Black-on-black, she was good at that.

Jiang Fei picked up a small stone and deliberately threw it at the iron cabinet behind the tall man.

The crisp sound instantly made the three men stand up.

"Who's there?!"

Jiang Fei seized the opportunity to rush in, plunging her knife into the tall man's neck.

Before the other two could react, Jiang Fei quickly pulled out her knife and dealt with the closest short man.

The only remaining thin man was so scared that he immediately knelt down: "Please don't kill me! You can take anything here!"

The thin man frantically pushed the luggage bags over.

Jiang Fei opened one to look.

They were all instant noodles, ham sausages, and bread.

"Where's the gold?"

The thin man stammered in reply: "That useless stuff can't be eaten or used for fire, so we threw it away today. It's probably already at the bottom of the water..."

As the last word fell, the thin man's head was also chopped off and fell to the ground.

Jiang Fei felt very frustrated.

She went through all that trouble, only to have to go into the water anyway. What did she come here for?

To eliminate evil for the people?

Thump thump thump—!

Suddenly, a thumping sound came from the wardrobe nearby, and Jiang Fei immediately tightened her grip on the knife in her hand.

Bang!

The wardrobe door burst open.

The man kneeling on the ground, tied up with ropes, spat out the unidentified object stuffed in his mouth, his voice weak:

"Hero, save me..."